January
Ben Capps (cello) and Vassily Primakov (piano)
Friday January 11, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Exciting young American cellist Ben Capps enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. His artistry has been praised as “most appealing” by the New York Times, “virtuosic and impassioned” by the Barre Montpelier Times, the Holland Times hailed Capps as a “young cello phenomenon from New York” with “dazzling technique and a fearsomely meaty tone”, and the Epoch Times proclaimed that “Capps has it all . . . cello playing of the very highest standard.” He has performed in varying capacities at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Mann Hall in Tel Aviv, Meyerson Hall in Dallas, and the Auditorio Nacional, the Palace of Fine Arts and Sala Nezahualcoytl in Mexico City.
In recent years, Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class importance. Gramophone wrote that “Primakov’s empathy with Chopin’s spirit could hardly be more complete,” and the American Record Guide stated: “Since Gilels, how many pianists have the right touch? In Chopin, no one currently playing sounds as good as this! This is a great Chopin pianist.” Music Web-International called Primakov’s Chopin concertos CD “one of the great Chopin recordings of recent times. These are performances of extraordinary power and beauty.” In 1999, as a teen-aged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was praised by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “How many pianists can make a line sing as the Moscow native did on this occasion? Every poignant phrase took ethereal wing. Elsewhere the music soared with all of the turbulence and poetic vibrancy it possesses. We will be hearing much from this remarkable musician.”
Liaison Ensemble + Helia Collective
Saturday January 19, 7:30 p.m.
Liaison is a dynamic and vibrant early-music ensemble based in San Francisco, California. In addition to playing in concert halls, Liaison hopes to bring historically-informed performances to a wider range of audiences in non-traditional venues while maintaining the highest musical standards. Liaison’s group name was inspired by the members’ pursuit of a collaborative, cooperative approach to ensemble music-making as well the importance of the relationship between performer and audience.
Co-founded by musician/composers, Emma Logan and Julie Barwick, Helia Music Collective supports the creative endeavors of women in music throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Helia Music seeks to enrich the community and expand the engagement of women artists through educational outreach and collaborations, with performances and workshops taking place in unique and diverse spaces. Through charitable activities and events, Helia supports the education and development of women in the Bay Area and beyond.
February
San Francisco-Munich Trio
Saturday February 23, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Rebecca Rust, violoncello, and Friedrich Edelmann, bassoon, have played together in duos, trios and larger chamber music groups for over 30 years. From their home base in Germany, this husband-and-wife team performs in America, Europe and Japan including radio- and TV-productions.
Organist and pianist Tom Flesher studied organ with Ken Mansfield of Hayward State University, and William Watkins in Washington, DC. While earning his BA (math) from William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Tom studied with James S. Darling at Bruton Parish Church. Retired from the computer business, Tom is organist at First Presbyterian Church of Napa, and has collaborated with the delightful Rust-Edelmann cello-bassoon duo many times.
March
Trio 180 – CONCERT CANCELED
CONCERT CANCELED due to illness.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Trio 180, the faculty piano trio-in-residence at the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music, is dedicated to its roles as performer, proponent of new music, and educator. In addition to giving concerts and master classes throughout the United States, the trio has been featured on concert series in Mexico and Canada. This talented ensemble includes celebrated concert violinist Ann Miller, renowned cellist Vicky Wang, and award-winning pianist Sonia Leong.
April
Circadian String Quartet
Saturday April 6, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Bay Area based Circadian String Quartet was founded in 2013 to promote the classical and contemporary string quartet repertoire, in particular music of cultural and folkloric significance. Since then, the group has been featured through Mt. Shasta’s Music By the Mountain, Sunset Music | Arts Chamber Music Series in San Francisco, and the Merced Symphony Association. In 2014, the CSQ were invited to collaborate with the St. Petersburg-based Rimsky Korsakov String Quartet during their North American tour. They have also given U.S. premieres of pieces by world-renowned British composer Ian Venables in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Sally Munro of the San Francisco Opera and Natalie Parker, Principal Clarinetist of the San Francisco Ballet.
Ensemble Illume
Saturday April 13, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Known for their powerful sound and profound unity of ensemble, Ensemble Illume is dedicated to sharing the rich character of the viola, cello, and piano trio with audiences of all ages. With its unconventional instrumentation, Illume’s mission is to nurture and expand the repertoire for the ensemble by identifying rarely-heard work and working with contemporary composers, while also pursuing collaborations with fellow musicians to perform quartets, quintets, and larger chamber ensembles. The ensemble was formed with an inaugural concert in San Francisco in 2018, which featured works by Kaija Saariaho and Johannes Brahms.
May
Trio Terme
Saturday May 11, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Nina Flyer, cello
Stacey McColley, clarinet
Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Trio Terme was formed last summer at the Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy. The three performers, all with extensive solo and ensemble experience, were so delighted playing together at Interharmony, that they decided to continue to explore the rich clarinet, cello, piano repertoire.
June
Trio Foss
Saturday June 8, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Hrabba Atladottir, violin
Nina Flyer, cello
Miles Graber, piano
Trio Foss, a fusion of varying personalities, backgrounds, and nationalities, is a new group just entering the music scene. Having only been in existence for one year, the trio has already secured concerts throughout the Bay Area to critical acclaim and completed its first recording project with composer Allan Crossman.
A Sunset Community Music & Arts Event
Ajay Mallya (violin) with Dmitriy Cogan (piano)
Saturday June 15, 5 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Ajay Mallya started learning violin at age 3 and is currently a student of Zhao Wei of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has won local, state, and international violin competitions and awards, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 12 with the Carnegie Honors Orchestra of North America. Subsequently, he was chosen to perform a recital in Carnegie Hall at age 13. Ajay is currently a member of the California Youth Symphony and plays chamber music with the Music@ Kohl Mansion, Young Chamber Musicians.
Dmitriy Cogan began music studies at the age of six at the Central Music School before moving to the U.S. and settling in San Francisco in 1974. He studied conducting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and continued piano studies with Vladimir Pleshakov and Maria Cysic. In 1979, he moved to New York to study with Martin Canin at the Juilliard School, where he received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Mr. Cogan has performed publicly since age nine in Moscow.
Ensemble 1828: The Schubert Project
Nicole Oswald recently received an Artist Diploma from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, studying under renowned concert violinist and pedagogue Charles Castleman as a graduate teaching assistant and Henry Mancini Institute fellow. Prior to attending Frost, Nicole studied violin at the Utrechts Conservatory, Netherlands and the Eastman School of Music.
Alison Lee recently completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance at the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Lydia Artymiw. She received her MM degree from Rice University under Jon Kimura Parker, and BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory under Angela Cheng.
Isaac Pastor-Chermak is Principal Cellist of Portland Opera and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Associate Principal Cellist of Stockton Symphony; and a member of Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, and Dayton Philharmonic.
October
Curium Piano Trio
Saturday October 5, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
Founded in the summer of 2017, the women of Curium piano trio have gained reputations as performers that radiate dynamism and presence. Specializing in performing the music of female composers, they are committed to bringing creative and diverse musical programming to their audiences. The Curium trio highlights the works of women composers and performers alongside traditional piano trio repertoire, and have brought together a community of people with their representation of diversity and women.
Curium was chosen as the 2017 winners of the Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award.
Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet, St. Petersburg, Russia
Friday October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
The program features chamber music of Alexander Glasunov, Peter Dyson, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Mezzo-soprano, Sally Munro, will join the quartet as a guest artist.
The Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet, formed in 1939, is a monument of Russian musical history. Composed of four graduates from the prestigious St. Petersburg Conservatory, they regularly perform in the most reputable festivals in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Malta, England, Switzerland and Finland. Their varied repertoire, ranging from Russian music of the 19th and early 20th centuries to contemporary composers, is enthusiastically enjoyed by a wide range of audiences.
- Mikhail Bondarev (violin)
- Ekaterina Belisova (violin)
- Alexei Popov (viola)
- Anton Andreev (cello)
Sunset Music and Arts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.